


The Mix Up

by rubberglue



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberglue/pseuds/rubberglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur and Merlin find themselves in each other's bodies. Needless to say, Arthur doesn't think it's as funny as Merlin does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mix Up

**Author's Note:**

> Written to fill this [prompt](http://pendragons-kink.livejournal.com/1180.html?thread=199324#t199324) at [](http://pendragons-kink.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://pendragons-kink.livejournal.com/)**pendragons_kink**

There was only so much polite chit chat Gwen could take with the other noble ladies. As a servant, she had been trained to view such activities as frivolous, taking up time that could be better spent sewing and cleaning. Yet as Queen, she was expected to entertain the noble ladies who pass through the kingdom, and with her wedding and coronation, there were many curious to see the servant turned Queen.

When Lady Penelope hid a yawn behind her gloved hand, Gwen took the opportunity to suggest that they retire for the night. After several minutes of farewells, it was with great relief that Gwen made her way to her chambers.

As she walked down the endless corridors of the castle, she thought she caught sight of her husband turning the corner. Her heart started to speed up and she knew she was probably grinning. But she hadn't seen Arthur in days, after he and Merlin set off to look into a mysterious object found in one of the outlying villages. She missed him.

Her footsteps quickened as she hurried after him. She briefly wondered why he wasn't walking towards their chambers but dismissed it. Arthur probably had some other duties to see to before he could go to bed. He stopped briefly to talk to a very confused looking servant and that pause gave her the chance to catch up with him.

"Hello," she said, slightly embarrassed when her voice came out huskier than usual. Her eyes devoured him as she appreciated how good he looked. While she wouldn't admit it aloud to anyway - it wasn't proper - she missed having him in bed with her and the anticipation of this evening was lifting her heart.

"Oh hi! How have you been?"

Gwen frowned slightly at the tone. It was affectionate but distant, not the tone Arthur used with her when they were alone. More surprisingly, he made no attempt to touch her. Perhaps he was tired.

"I've been good. The entourage from the Kingdom of Bodham has been taking up most of my time." She fell into step with him.

"I can imagine. All these nobles, thinking we have nothing better to do but to fuss over them and indulge their nonsense.” Arthur grumbled gently. “Oh, sorry. You’re noble now aren’t you?”

Slightly taken aback by his words, Gwen stopped walking. “Are you alright? Did something happen on your trip?”

Turning back to her, he grinned. “I’m fine. Well, as fine as I can be after three days travelling alone with that cabbagehead. Anyway, he has missed you so instead of dilly dallying with me here, maybe you should go to your room.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“He missed me? Umm … that’s nice.” Gwen had the distinct feeling that she was missing a key part of this conversation. “I was actually thinking that -”

“Oh! Sorry to have to run but I promised Gwaine that I would see him in the tavern.” He lifted an arm in farewell and hurried off.

Three days away from his wife and he made plans to spend the evening in the tavern with his knights? Gwen couldn’t deny the disappointment that settled in her stomach as she made her way back to her room alone.

The walk to her chambers didn’t take long but by the time she reached the door, her disappointment developed into annoyance with a hint of anger. When Arthur returned from the tavern later, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. She was still deep in thought when she entered the room.

“Guinevere!” Merlin walked from behind the changing screen, wearing a smile on his face and little else.

“What are you doing?” She squeaked, quickly squeezing her eyes close. “Put something on!” She heard the sound of cloth against skin but kept her eyes shut, just in case. As it was, the image of Merlin naked was burnt in her brain.

“You can open your eyes now.” Merlin sounded sullen and when she opened her eyes, he dressed somewhat haphazardly and was sprawled in Arthur’s favourite chair, pouting. “I thought you would be happy to see me.”

“Are you possessed again?”

“No. What are you talking about?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re acting a little strangely.”

Merlin shifted in the chair. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen you in three days. Can you blame me for missing you? Now stop hovering at the door and come here.”

When Gwen didn’t move, Merlin sighed and walked to her. “Are you upset because I didn’t come see you immediately after I arrived?” He lifted a hand and cupped her face.

Before she could do anything, he leaned over and kissed her as his hand tangled in her hand. Shock kept her standing stiffly. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “I missed you so much,” Merlin murmured as he moved even closer to her.

She shoved at him and Merlin reluctantly moved away. “What’s wrong?” Confusion coloured his eyes and Gwen grew even more worried.

“I forgot that Lady Anne wanted some - things. I have to go see her now.” Without waiting for him to respond, she darted out of the room.

Something was afoot and she needed to think.

++++

Arthur stared at the closed door. What had he done? He didn’t believe for one minute that Gwen had to go give something to Lady Anne. It was clearly an excuse to get away from him and that hurt. He hadn’t seen her in three days and he had been dreaming (too loudly according to Merlin) of a wonderful reunion in bed. Instead, his wife had freaked out at seeing him naked and practically run away.

Maybe she was pregnant.

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was.

A long time ago, one of his knights had lamented how once his wife got pregnant, she refused to share a bed with him. His wife had also become a lot more emotional. Perhaps Gwen was the same.

Him and Gwen having a baby. He smiled. With his courage and good looks and Gwen’s intelligence and sensibility, their child would be perfect. He just had to keep Merlin away from his child.

Excitement churning in him, he practically skipped out of their room in search of his wife. He would call his son Arthur Junior. Or if it was a girl, then - hmm, he didn’t know how exactly to name girls. Something pretty like -

His thoughts were cut short when he thought he saw someone who looked suspiciously like himself across the corridors. Shaking his head, Arthur stared at the now empty corridor. He must be imagining things. Still, one could never be too careful. Drawing his sword, he walked towards where he saw the figure.

It occurred to him that this was the way to Merlin’s quarters. It then occurred to him that this was probably Merlin’s fault. Without knocking, he barged into Gaius and Merlin’s accommodation.

“Alright. What have you done now?”

And then he, not him but him or someone who looked a great deal like him, walked into the main area.

The other him stopped.

“You’re me!” “Why do you look like me?” Both of them spluttered at each other, mouths agape.

The other Arthur was the first to recover. “You look like me.”

“You mean you look like me,” Arthur retorted angrily. This must be Merlin’s fault. And even if it wasn’t, it was still his fault. “You’re Merlin aren’t you?” Then he poked Merlin for good measure although he wasn’t sure why.

“Of course I am Merlin! And why do you look like me? What did you do?”

“I look like you because you look like me!”

“That’s what I said!” Merlin huffed as he reached out to pull at Arthur’s face. “I knew it was too realistic to be a disguise. What on earth did you do?”

Swiping Merlin’s hand away, Arthur looked frantically around the room. No wonder Merlin constantly looked such a mess. He did not seem to be in possession of a mirror. His eyes landed on a dull metal goblet. That would have to do. Grabbing it, he shoved it in Merlin’s face.

“I’m not thirsty,” snapped Merlin who was now frowning at him as if he was the one who had done something wrong.

“Don’t be a fool. Look at yourself!”

“What for? I know - oh.” Merlin squinted at the blur image in the side of the goblet, then touched his face and hair gently. “Well, this is interesting.”

“Interesting? This is a disaster! We can’t have two of me running around the castle.”

“We won’t,” muttered Merlin dryly as he returned the goblet to Arthur. “Look at yourself.”

Arthur sighed and took the goblet. Peering into the cloudy metal Arthur noted with growing horror that his hair was black.

He also had large ears.

And a skinny face.

It was his worst nightmare come true - he was Merlin.

++++

Magic. It had to be magic. Arthur groaned one more time as he rubbed his face.  
  
“Will you stop that? That’s all you have been doing!” Merlin was seated at the table flipping through the many books Gaius had.  
  
“I’m depressed.”  
  
“Hey, I’m not all that thrilled to be you either.”  
  
“I don’t see why. You’ve got an upgrade - better looks, fitter body while I’ve become - well, I’ve become you.” Arthur buried his face in his hands again. Maybe this was a dream. Maybe if he pinched himself he would wake.  
  
He pinched himself. He yelped.  
  
“What are you doing? That’s my body you’re in. Stop abusing it,” grumbled Merlin as he glared at Arthur. Arthur stared at himself, no Merlin, - he had quite an intense glare. He also never realised how blue his eyes were or how soft his hair looked. No wonder Gwen was always touching his hair.  
  
Gwen.  
  
Now he knew why she was acting so strangely. She had just seen Merlin naked. That would make anyone go mad. That thought alone made him even more depressed. That ruled out pregnancy he supposed.  
  
"Well? Haven't you found a solution yet?"  
  
Slamming the book shut, Merlin sighed. "There's nothing in these books. I think it might have something to do with that crystal we brought back from that strange village."  
  
“You mean that flash of light that happened when we pried it out? But I clearly remember that you still looked like you after that. I think I would remember if my double was riding next to me.”  
  
Merlin shrugged. "Look I don't know. There's nothing in Gaius's books so we have to look elsewhere. We should try the library next."  
  
"Ok, you do that. I'm going to bed. Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and this would reverse itself." Arthur stood and grabbed his sword.  
  
"Wait, wait. Aren't you forgetting something?" Merlin jumped up and blocked his way. "You look like me!"  
  
"And?"  
  
"And unless you are planning to announce this switch of bodies to the whole kingdom, what would people think if Merlin spent the night in your chambers with your wife while you spent the night here."  
  
Dread settled on his shoulders as he took in what Merlin was saying. Not only did he now look like Merlin, it appeared that he was now going to have to be Merlin.  
  
"No, no, no. You are not sleeping in the same room as Gwen. And you sure as hell are not going to start ruling Camelot."  
  
Unsettlingly, Merlin smirked. "Well, I don't see how you can stop me, seeing that I'm King."  
  
"Merlin -"  
  
Before he could threaten Merlin with something, anything, someone opened the door.  
  
"Guinevere!" His wife stood at the threshold of the room, looking strangely at them. Without thinking, Arthur stood up and walked towards her.   
  
"Umm, Merlin." She moved backwards, away from him, her eyes going to Merlin. "Arthur, can I speak to you? Now?"  
  
"I'm Arthur." Her eyes flickered to him and she gave him a half-smile before she turned back to Merlin.  
  
"Arthur, I think there's something wrong with Merlin." Gwen obviously wasn't very good at whispering since he heard every word.  
  
"I think you should sit down Gwen."  
  
++++  
  
He knew he was, as Gwen would say, being a baby but he felt he was entitled to. After all, his wife, the woman who had promised to support him through thick and thin, was seated at a corner of Merlin's tiny room and very poorly trying to suppress her laughter. Here he was suffering in Merlin's less than ideal body but was his wife comforting him? No.  
  
"Oh dear. What is going to happen now?" Gwen looked suitably worried except that he could still see the amusement in her eyes. He bristled.  
  
"Merlin here thinks that we have to swap lives now. As you can imagine, I have no intention of living Merlin's life. I'm the King of Camelot for goodness sake."  
  
Merlin chuckled. "Pity no one is going to believe you. I think I'm going to enjoy being King."  
  
Arthur felt slightly calmer when Gwen went over to him and rubbed his arm comfortingly. "Surely there's a cure for this."  
  
"That's what Arthur is going to be looking for in Geoffrey's library tomorrow. Gaius's books have been completely unhelpful."  
  
"When did we decide I would do that?" Gwen's rubbing of his arm increased but he refused to be comforted. The only time Arthur had ever been in the library was when his father, fed up with his consistent demand for attention, put him in the care of Geoffrey. Then, the library had smelled bad. He couldn't imagine it smelled any better today.  
  
"Seeing that you are the manservant here and I'm the king," Merlin was enjoying this far too much for Arthur's liking.  
  
Oh god. There was a feast tomorrow in honor of the delegates from the Kingdom of Bodham. And it seemed that Merlin would be playing king and hosting the feast.  
  
Arthur let his head fall into his hands again and he moaned, "The feast! Camelot is going to fall by the end of this week isn't she?"  
  
"Oh Arthur." Gwen patted his shoulder. "It'll be fine. I'll look after Merlin at the feast, the same way you looked after me my first few weeks as Queen. Shall we sort out our sleeping arrangement because as fun as this has been, I spent the whole day amusing a group of royal ladies, which is surprisingly tiring."  
  
Sorting the sleeping arrangements took a good half hour and the only solution that seemed to work for all of them was for all three of them to sleep in the royal chambers.  
  
"You sleep on the floor," snapped Arthur when they entered his room. It was bad enough he had to share his room with Merlin. He wasn't sharing his bed as well.  
  
"Fine. Just don't do anything strange with my body. Keep your hands and Gwen's to yourselves."  
  
"Shut up, Merlin." What did Merlin think he would do? The last thing he wanted was to touch Merlin's body. But, a little voice chirped, did it count if you used Merlin's hands to touch Merlin's body?  
  
Why was he even contemplating this?  
  
Annoyed and exhausted, he changed into his sleepwear, feeling even more irritated when he noticed how loosely his night shirt hung on him. Only after he crawled into bed did he realize that Gwen was still hovering at the foot of the bed.  
  
"Aren't you coming to bed Gwen?"  
  
A snore that sounded informed him that Merlin was already fast asleep on the floor. Obviously this whole situation didn't bother him a bit.   
  
"I can't. It's not right." She stood nervously and he sat up, looking worriedly at her.  
  
"What's not right? Are you pregnant?"  
  
"What? Not that I know of." She frowned. "Why would you think that? Are you trying to tell me something?"  
  
"No. No. What's the problem then?"  
  
"You're Merlin. I can't sleep in the same bed as you." Wringing her hands, Gwen bit her lip.  
  
She always exuded a sense of sensual vulnerability when she did that and Arthur felt his (Merlin's?) body responding. This was so very wrong on so many levels.

++++

Gwen was on top of him, kissing him hungrily. His hands roamed the curves of her body as he responded to her kisses. Slowly, he pushed her night gown off her shoulder, broke the kiss so he could nibble at the smooth skin there. She moaned and pressed into him, as if trying to get closer to him. Cupping her bum, he thrust against her.  
  
Then she kicked him in the hip.  
  
Arthur shot up and stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. His body was aching and seeing that Gwen was nowhere to be seen, he doubted it was a result of any exertion he shared with her.  
  
Then he realized why his surroundings were unfamiliar. He was looking at his room from the ground. Slowly, he turned to his left. Mouth wide open, limbs all over the place, Merlin slept soundly next to him. Stifling the urge to smack Merlin in revenge for earlier, Arthur let out a long suffering sigh and stood up. The floor was really uncomfortable. As he padded to the cupboard, he saw Gwen fast asleep on their bed. Another sigh. He had already spent three nights away from his wife. How many more was he to endure?  
  
"Arthur?" His body tightened when her husky, sleep-filled voice reached him. He missed her so much.  
  
"Good morning Guinevere." Unable to resist, he walked over and brushed a kiss on her forehead.  
  
She smiled fondly and took his hand. "This body swop thing is really strange."  
  
"Tell me about it." He sat obediently on the bed when she tugged at him.  
  
"Since I can't see you very well in the darkness, how about you give me a kiss?"  
  
Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, "I think that's an excellent idea my Queen."  
  
The kiss started slow but they missed each other too much to continue leisurely exploring each other and soon the kiss became more desperate.  
  
"Hey! What did I say about defiling my body?"  
  
Reluctantly letting go of his wife, Arthur left the bed, ignoring Merlin and his complaints. He could foresee a long day ahead.  
  
“Good morning Merlin. If you don’t mind, I need to get ready for the day.” Gwen sat up, holding her covers to her chest.  
  
Realising he couldn't stay in the room like usually did, he headed out of the room with Merlin. The guards at their door pointedly ignored him as they bowed to Merlin. Gwen's maid curtsied to Merlin before dashing into the room. An awkward silence descended as the two of them and the two guards lingered outside the door, waiting for Gwen to get ready.  
  
"What do we have planned for today, my dear servant?" Merlin's imperious tone was ruined by the cheeky smile he had on.  
  
"Shut up." Which was entirely the wrong thing to say because that put the guards on alert and they were glaring at him menacingly. Merlin's smirk grew. "I apologize my lord. I had a bad night. I believe the Queen knows the day's schedule." Then he added under his breath, "as do you."  
  
Merlin's response was to grin even more as he addressed the guards. "It's great to be King, even if my servant is so incompetent that he doesn't know the day's schedule."  
  
Arthur bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile as he started to generate ideas for revenge. He would definitely have the last laugh.  
  
"Shall we get some breakfast?" Gwen came from the room and smiled at them. Immediately Arthur's mood lifted. Breakfast sounded good - some sausages, bread and fruits. Maybe even a pickled egg or two.  
  
"That sounds great. Merlin, you should be going to the kitchens and see if you can help with breakfast." Merlin was still grinning as he took Gwen's arm, leading her down the corridor. Gwen looked back at him, an apology in her eyes but with the guards watching, there was nothing else she could do.  
  
This was going to be a long, terrible day.  
  
++++  
  
It was definitely a long, terrible day and it wasn’t even half over yet.  
  
He needed to get his body back as soon as possible before he went mad. If he ever got his body back, he would never ever moan about being King again. In fact he would embrace it with enthusiasm. He would be the most enthusiastic King anyone had ever seen.  
  
Within a few hours, he had learnt several things about himself. He hated cleaning. He hated chopping carrots (when did a knife become more dangerous than a sword? He was definitely going to show Gwen his injuries - that should gain him at least some amount of sympathetic fussing.). He hated polishing. Oh how he hated polishing. (He also hated metal jokes but that was neither here nor there.)  
  
When the afternoon rolled around, Arthur couldn’t imagine being more irritated. Usually he would work off his irritation by sparring with whichever poor knight happened to be on the training field but he couldn’t do that in Merlin’s body. He wondered what Merlin did to calm his mood. Probably call him names. Arthur figured he would have to be more forgiving in future - after all, what was being called a clotpole compared to having to polish metal with George?  
  
It was a relief that his next duty was to accompany Merlin on a hunt, even if all he was going to do was carry the weapons and then, the game that was hunted. There might be some joy in seeing Merlin scramble around and pretend to know how to hunt.  
  
The more sensible part of his brain pointed out that the people would actually be seeing him out there, being thoroughly incompetent at hunting. He dismissed the thought, deciding that he would plead illness later to explain his poor performance. After all, it wasn't like he didn't have years of excellent hunting records to show.  
  
As he expected, hunting did somewhat make up for all the hard work he suffered through that morning. There was considerable pleasure to be had from seeing Merlin stumble over tree roots he didn't notice, shoot arrows that fell at his feet and squeak with horror when his arrow actually hit a deer.  
  
"You're better with a crossbow than that." Arthur walked beside Merlin as they went to retrieve the fallen deer.  
  
Merlin shrugged as he bent over to tie up the deer. "It's a bit different when I'm firing arrows in the middle of a battle and when I have so many eyes on me, waiting to see how well I can hunt."  
  
"Public performance is a huge part of being King, I've learnt. People don't care what you do, just what you show them you can do." Crossing his arms, Arthur leaned against a nearby tree as he watched Merlin truss up the deer. "After this, you're free till the feast. Why don't you go to the library. Looking like me, Geoffrey should have no problems letting you in."  
  
"I know what you're trying to do. And if I'm in the library, are you going to be working in the kitchens, preparing for the feast?"  
  
Before Arthur could answer, the rustling of leaves signaled company.  
  
"Sire! Why are you retrieving the deer and not your servant?" Lord Adric and his brother, Lord Damian stumbled into the clearing and stared at Merlin in surprise.  
  
"Ah Adric. I've come to realize that for years, I've been a lazy, selfish person for most of my life and overworked my poor servants. This is me making amends and trying to be a better person. After all, a bit of menial labour never killed anyone."  
  
Arthur rolled his eyes before speaking. "The King is being modest, like he always is. King Arthur has always been a very good and generous master to me. I would rather work for no one else."  
  
"My servant is too kind. I have been an awful master, a bully if you will."  
  
"No. King Arthur is a brilliant King, kind, giving, smart, a true warrior -"  
  
Perhaps this was partly his fault, but this soon degenerated into a fairly intense squabble while the two men looked oddly on before it became too much and they took their leave.  
  
"Brilliant Merlin. Now they think we are nuts."  
  
"I think we've always been nuts." Merlin said quite calmly as he lifted up the deer.  
  
“Maybe. But no one had to know,” sighed Arthur.  
  
In the hours before the feast, Arthur found himself with Merlin, knee deep in books from the still strange smelling library. He supposed this was preferable to being yelled at and pushed around by Rose, the head cook. Merlin seemed way too familiar with the library and Arthur wondered how much time Merlin spent in this dusty, dank place.  
  
"Standing around, looking cool isn't helping," grumbled Merlin as he poured through some thick tome he dug out from somewhere.  
  
"I can't actually look cool when in your body. Have you found anything?"  
  
“No Arthur. Maybe if you helped, we will get through these books faster.”  
  
Grumbling under his breath, Arthur grabbed a book and flipped through it.

++++

Just a few more hours, Arthur chanted to himself as he stood next to someone called Lilith who kept talking to him and touching him. Apparently she had been working in the castle longer than Merlin. He had no idea who she was. Guinevere probably did. Anyway, he didn’t have time to ponder such things, not when Merlin had taken Gwen to the dance floor and was dancing way too close to her.  
  
He tried glaring. It didn’t work.  
  
He continued glaring anyway.  
  
An elbow jabbed him and he jumped. “What?”  
  
“Lady Anne’s goblet is almost empty. Fill it up!” Lilith gestured to Lady Anne with her jug. “I know you’re usually quite unaware but you’re even worse today.”  
  
Grunting, Arthur stepped forward and dumped more wine into Lady Anne’s goblet. Then he went back to staring at Merlin and Gwen on the dance floor.  
  
“The King isn’t going to be pleased if you keep staring at Guinevere like that,” Lilith whispered. Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? “I know you and her have a history but that’s long over. She’s Queen now.”  
  
“Lilith, I don’t really - history? Merlin has history with Gwen?”  
  
“Why are you referring to yourself by your name?” Lilith took a step from him and eyed him suspiciously.  
  
“Uh … slip of the tongue. It’s been a long day.” To avoid Lilith, he took a step forward and filled Lady Anne’s goblet. Unfortunately, it was still full and he only ended up pouring wine all over the table. He muttered a hasty apology as she berated him for his carelessness. These royals were such a pain sometimes. Why couldn’t they refill their own goblets anyway?  
  
He stopped when he realised where his thoughts were headed. Right. He was getting too involved in his new role.  
  
Gwen rushed over when she noticed the slight commotion. At least that stopped them from dancing. He apologized again, feeling bad that Gwen might get the brunt of Lady Anne's anger. But a smile, a few kind words and Lady Anne seemed mollified.  
  
“Umm … Merlin. Why don’t you come serve our table instead? I’m sure Lilith can manage here.”  
  
He grinned at Lilith who was staring daggers at him as he followed Gwen back to their table.  
  
“I haven’t seen you the whole day,” Gwen murmured apologetically and his spirits rose. Nothing better than knowing your wife missed you. “How has it been?”  
  
“Different.”  
  
She smiled. “Having been on both sides, I would agree.” Then, as she sat on her chair, she brushed her hand gently over his. A grin still plastered on his face, he took a step back. This was much better. At the very least, he could stare at his wife and imagine the things he wanted to do with her once he got his body back.  
  
“And how was the trip to that village. Did you find the mysterious object?” Lord Damian enquired as they tucked into the deer. Arthur edged closer to listen.  
  
“We did. It was an orange crystal of some sort. Gave out a blinding flash of light when we removed it.”  
  
Lord Damian’s eyes lit up at that description. Arthur moved even closer.  
  
“Well,” Lord Damian said, “I think I’ve heard of it before. It sounds like the Crystal of Penuria! And to think we all thought it had been lost forever to the druids.”  
  
In his enthusiasm, Lord Damian gesticulated wildly. The jug Arthur was carrying tilted as he jumped out of the way and wine splashed all over Lord Damian and Gwen, who was seated by his side.  
  
Oh dear god. Everything seemed to slow down and he watched as Lord Damian jumped up from his seat, while Gwen grabbed a napkin and tried to pat him down. Merlin too was out of his seat and apparently talking to him.  
  
“You better go. Somewhere.” Merlin muttered before giving him a shove. Taking the cue, Arthur dumped the jug on the table and left.  
  
At least they knew what the crystal was now.  
  
++++  
  
Arthur lay in his bed in his chambers brooding. Why? Why was life so difficult? Why wasn’t he a simple farmer?  
  
“I think I might have found a more incompetent servant than me,” chuckled Merlin as he entered the chambers in much too good a mood for Arthur’s liking.  
  
“Shut up.” He buried his head further into the pillow.  
  
“Food at the feast was amazingly good.”  
  
“Shut up.” Why did he keep Merlin on as his servant? Things like this only happened with Merlin around. Nothing of this sort happened in the years before Merlin arrived in Camelot. “And Gwen always keeps food from the feast for you. So shut up.”  
  
He felt Merlin shove his shoulder. “Come on. I got food for you as well. And good news too.”  
  
Letting out a huge sigh, Arthur got out of bed. “What is it? Where’s Gwen?”  
  
Merlin passed him a huge platter of food. “She’s doing damage control I expect. Told them I wanted to deal with my servant. Here, I got your favourite as well.”  
  
For a while, Arthur said nothing as he stuffed the dinner in his mouth. Serving was hard work and he was starving. “What’s the good news? Am I going to get my body back?”  
  
“That’s the thing. I knew I heard of the Crystal of Penuria before so before I came up, I popped by the library. Guess it was in one of the books we never got to.”  
  
Arthur eyed Merlin suspiciously. Things were often very convenient for Merlin. Still, he wasn’t going to make a fuss, not when his body was at stake. There was no way he could deal with being a servant for another hour.  
  
“So.”  
  
“Yes? What do we do Merlin?”  
  
“There’s the difficult way and the easy way.”  
  
“Merlin.”  
  
“Right the easy way then.”  
  
It took a while to get everything they needed. When Merlin looked a bit sick when Arthur cut his palm to get some of his blood, Arthur couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Gwen perched on the bed, watching nervously.  
  
“This is magic isn’t it?” Arthur looked at the words that needed to be chanted as they smashed the crystal with a blood-tip sword.  
  
Merlin shrugged. “You smash. I recite.”  
  
“Not like you could smash the crystal,” muttered Arthur as he picked up the sword and readied himself.  
  
Gwen gasped when the sword hit the crystal, sending small pieces of it flying across the room.  
  
Nothing happened. There was no blinding light. Nothing.  
  
Arthur looked down. He still had Merlin’s body. For the first time since this happened, fear gripped him. Earlier he had refused to contemplate having to spend the rest of his life like this but now, the thought wouldn’t leave his head.  
  
As he stalked out of the room, he heard Gwen call his name. But he didn’t turn back.  
  
He spent the rest of the night at the training ground, swinging his sword at the training dummy. He didn’t care who saw Merlin doing that.  
  
Eventually, exhaustion overtook him and he simply collapsed onto the damp grass and slept.

++++

“Sire?”  
  
Arthur struggled to open his eyes. Looking up, he saw a circle of knights staring down at him, concern and wariness etched on their faces.  
  
“Are you alright Arthur?” Sir Leon reached a hand down to help him up. “Why are you in Merlin’s clothes?”  
  
++++  
  
That night, it was with great relief that he slipped into bed next to Gwen.  
  
“Hello. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a very long time.” He trailed a finger down her hips as he leaned over to brush his lips across hers.  
  
Gwen said nothing, merely pulling him closer, wrapping her legs around him and deepening the kiss.  
  
++++  
  
“How do you feel not being King anymore?”  
  
He and Merlin were standing at the edge of the training ground, watching as Leon put the new recruits through their paces.  
  
“It’s back to normal for me. Anyway hosting feasts and going on pointless hunts aren’t exactly my idea of fun.”  
  
“I admit, I guess I never realised how hard you worked.”  
  
“Oh?” Merlin grinned at him. “Does this mean you’re going to stop giving useless chores to do?”  
  
“Merlin, you never do the chores I give you.”  
  
“That is true too.” Merlin turned back to the grunting knights. “It’s good to be back in my body though.”  
  
“Yeah.” And he gave Merlin a shove for good measure.


End file.
